There is a diverse number of transport monitoring methods designed to increase the efficiency of transportation asset control centers, thereby preventing loss of fuel and other materials and precluding improper use of transportation assets. These systems are generally based on the same principle of collecting data from various sensors, installed on a transportation asset, which include a satellite navigation receiver, and transmitting the collected data to data storage via a public radio network, most often, a cellular network. The necessity of transmitting the entire amount of the data used in controlling of the transportation asset, even when the coordinates of the transportation asset and monitored operational characteristics remain unchanged, results in an unreasonably large volume of the data to be transmitted via the public radio network. This, in turn, makes using existing systems rather expensive because of the large amount of traffic that is generated. Furthermore, public radio networks oftentimes get overloaded.
The above holds true even for the more advanced of the existing methods for monitoring transportation assets, such as, for example, the method wherein a moving transportation asset receives navigation signals from the satellites of a global navigation system, such as, for example, the Global Positioning System (GPS). The location, speed and time of the transportation asset are identified and a data packet is formed containing a number code of the transportation asset and the state of its sub-systems. The data is periodically received by a transportation asset control center in the form of an electrical signal via a public radio network, processed, stored, and displayed on an electronic map. In case of an emergency, the transportation asset control center forms and sends to the transportation asset an appropriate message in the form of an information packet via a public radio network. When the message is received by the transportation asset, some of its controlling sub-systems are activated or deactivated, or bidirectional voice communications are established via a cellular network. The method includes regularly transmitting of the full volume of the data associated with the location and operation of the transportation asset, thereby necessitating generation of a large amount of traffic.
In addition to the above, some of the existing methods for monitoring transportation assets are encumbered by a limited scope of application. For example, there is a method that is based on storing a security code to the memory of a transportation asset controller. The security code is transmitted to the transportation asset control center when the transportation asset is abandoned by the driver and is taken as a signal to secure the transportation asset for a predetermined period of time. If the transportation asset moves during the predetermined period of time, a theft code identifier is added to the data transmitted to the transportation asset control center. Such method has limited applications.